Hi Julie,
I do alot of cycling in the early AM & recently have noticed my thumb muscles are aching when finished. I think it's because recently I've been wearing winter gloves that are tighter fitting in the web space. It does not feel like a joint pain or nerve pain, but rather in the Abductor pollicus brevis & Flexor pollicis brevis area, along with tenderness in the web space adductor pollicis (I'm looking at an anatomy book & guessing that these are the affected muscles). I've also read that the Median nerve innervates the thumb thenar area, but I don't have any numbness, tingling or hand weakness, so at this point I'm ruling out carpal tunnel.

Right now, I've been just massaging the thumb muscles & these tender areas, but they stay achy for days after I ride. Those muscles originate & insert in the palm so I haven't been massaging any of my arm muscles to solve this problem. Besides getting looser fitting gloves (which I'm working on), What do you recommend for thumb pain?!

Sincerely,
Jamie

Hi Jamie,

Cycling will cause a muscle called opponens pollicis to go into a repetitive strain injury because you are holding onto the handle bars for long periods of time. You can see the muscle if you go to the section titled "Anatomy Lessons" on my website http://www.carpaltunneltreatment.org/.

Aside from the muscles you mentioned, the opponens pollicis draws your thumb in toward your palm, and when you are cycling it is not only held in this position for hours, but it is also using force to maintain control of the handles. Since the muscle originates on the bridge to the carpal tunnel (flexor retinaculum) and inserts into the base of your thumb, when it goes into a contraction or spasm you will feel it in your wrist and thumb.

Working on the opponens pollicis will release the tension, and it's easy to do. Do you have my book Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living? Or do you have the Julstro System for hand/wrist pain? They both teach you how to treat the thumb muscles.

I think it's also important for you to work on all of the flexor muscles because they are gripping your hand into a fist while you cycle, so they are shortening the whole time. Your biceps and the pectoralis minor are also being repetitively strained while cycling, so it would be good if you work on them too.

Fortunately it's easy to do all of the treatments, and they work really well. I don't think you have anything to be concerned about, it's just a matter of some focused time and energy and you'll be fine.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Julie,

I really appreciate your thoughts & look forward to reading your books. I don't have either right now. Does Pain Free Living cover both upper & lower extremities?

I have a very sore Right Hamstring and problems with knots in my Right calf. Would that book cover them both?

Thanks again,
Jamie

Hi Jamie,

Yes, you'll find the answers in Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living. Also, look on the other forum you'll find a lot of threads about the iliopsoas/quadriceps and low back pain. The symptoms you are experiencing totally fit into all of those threads.

Please don't try stretching your hamstrings until you have read the other threads. When your pelvis rotates forward and down (this is the result of the tight ilio/quad muscles) it causes your hamstrings to overstretch. When they are overstretched they will feel tight to the touch and will be very painful, but if you try to stretch them even more you could possibly tear them or even sever them from the bone. It's very important that you don't do anything to them until you have totally released the iliopsoas, quadriceps, and posterior muscles: quadratus lumborum, piriformis, and even the gluteus maximus.

You'll find the treatments for all of the muscles in my book, and the treatments for your calf muscles are also in the book.

Let me know how you are doing once you start treating the muscles.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Hi Julie,
This repy is many months overdue, but I wanted to give you some positive feedback even so. Using your book & techniques, I was able to self-treat all of my small injuries, giving them a chance to heal before they became major problems - Invaluable!

God Bless,

Jamie

Hi Jamie,

How wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing, it is always helpful to anyone who is suffering to hear that someone else was able to stop the pain. I will be using your message on my website, and if you are open to allowing me to use it in other marketing, please contact me with your city and state so it will be a legitimate testimonial.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Julie,

First, long time lurker and now first time poster. Thank you for taking the time to host this site and help folks out.

Anyhow, not trying to highjack this thread but I remember it from last year and now have a similar cycling hand issue so I figured it’s better to post here than start a new one…

I’m a 45yo elite road cyclist spending 800 -1000 hours a year on the bike(been doing it for 6 years) with much of that time riding with hands on the brake hoods (thumb on the inside and fingers on the outside so they can move to shift gears and brake). Needless to say lots of repetitive wrist movement, grasping, pinching and pressure at the base of the thumb. Had a deQuairvains diagnosis(pain in L wrist) 6 years ago and it went away after wearing a splint for 2 weeks with no problems since. This time around the pain (3-4 out of 10) is in left thumb/index finger/meaty palm side base of thumb when using a grasping, pinching, twisting motion (opening jars, shifting, braking). No real pain elsewhere and just a bit of tingling in other fingers every now and then. Tried cutting back on training by 50%, NSAIDS, ice and wearing thump/spica splint for the last 4 weeks. Very slowly improving. Now I’ve stopped cycling all together (just running & swimming) to keep pressure off the hand and try to get this resolved more quickly.

Anyhow, with the great success above I was wondering if you have any suggestions for me.

Once again, thanks.
JohnW

Hi John,

Welcome to the forum, I'm glad to hear you've been reading for a long time, and even happier to say hello to you.

If you press your left pointer finger into the thick muscle at the base of your left thumb, and then move your left thumb in toward your palm, you'll feel the muscle contract. You have done this millions and millions of times, yet this muscle can't be stretched so when it goes into a spasm it just knots up and pulls your thumb in. However, you're trying to bring your thumb out, and the tug of war puts a great strain on the joint, and also on the bridge to the carpal tunnel, so it presses down on your median nerve.

Since you love to cycle so much, it would be well worth the cost to get the Julstro System so you can not only work out the tension in your hand, but in your arm and even your upper chest. You are repetitively straining these muscles every time you ride, and they are pressing on your median nerve as well as all of the other nerves and arteries/veins in your arm.

You can learn how to easily treat all of the muscles and then you will be able to immediately release the tension when it returns. It will return because it's repetitive strain injury, but it won't ever stop you from riding again.

As a cyclist I strongly suggest you also treat your flexors (underside of your forearm), your biceps, pectoralis minor, and you can also use the Julstro Tool to work out the tension in the muscles that hold your head back while you are riding. These muscles, the splenius capitis and splenius cervicis, can shorten from holding your head in that position (with added weight because of your helmet) for hours, and if they totally contract you won't be able to hold your head up to ride. This is quite serious, if fact, if you look into what happened to Allen Larsen at the 2003 RAAM you'll see what happens when they finally can't contract anymore. You can prevent this from happening.

I'll look forward to hearing from you again.

Wishing you well,
Julie

i really appreciated your threads i keep in touch with your threads i just start read the books about the thumb pain great post it

Hi Rory,

Thanks for the nice words. I see that you've posted four times so I'll wait to respond on your last message.

Wishing you well,
Julie